"But there will always be a time when you come over! Hiring a few bodyguards at this time would also give me some peace of mind. I'm only 48 years old, I don't want you to scare me into premature aging!"
Slamming the table, Julian expressed his dissatisfaction with Carter's dismissive attitude with a puffed-up beard and a stern look in his eyes.
Yes, it's a low-probability event, but aren't the bodyguards of other tycoons guarding against low-probability events? Who the heck gets messed with every day?
"Yeah, I also think you should have a few bodyguards. Little brother, you don't know, but when I heard that they were looking for you, I was almost desperate. These people, they're so despicable they'd drink our Chinese compatriots' blood, let alone deal with you guys."
The fat boss, who had been sitting aside without a chance to speak, spoke up at this moment, still with lingering fear in his voice, joining Julian in advising Carter to hire bodyguards when he comes to New York in the future.
"All right, all right, I'll hire them! By the way, Lao Chen, didn't you say earlier that the Chinese gangs were originally formed to seek mutual protection?"
Faced with this situation where everyone was pointing fingers, and Lily's still anxious expression, even though she hadn't said anything, Carter suddenly realized. Compared to last year, this year he had fundamentally changed.
As the second largest shareholder and major investor of Tiger Asset Management, his safety directly affected Julian's future. And the sales of that Tiger Fund.
If he suddenly kicked the bucket, not to mention how to deal with the investment funds, will it be withdrawn? Just the news spreading out would be a fatal blow to this nascent company. After all, it's funny, but the people on Wall Street are very superstitious.
For example, some traders will continue to eat the same lunch as long as the stocks they hold are rising because they believe that changing their lunch menu arbitrarily may change the upward trend; or some traders will never use a certain toilet seat they think represents loss, and there is the rule that almost all Wall Street companies default on: the ban on using red pens because red represents losses, and so on.
In fact, not only Wall Street, Carter recalled some anecdotes. It seems that the richer people are, the more superstitious they become.
Invest in your Tiger Fund, then turn around and kick the bucket?! Not to mention the money, if the person's life is gone, who would dare to invest in such a fund?! And the fat boss and Lily are even more so, their current lives are largely dependent on his existence.
If he kicks the bucket, won't they be dumbfounded on the spot?!
Realizing this, Carter could only, he must choose to comply with the concerns and advice of these people. Hire two bodyguards, one for a month or two, how much could it cost?
But after confirming that he needed to hire bodyguards when he went to the big city in the future, Carter was a little curious about what the fat boss had just said. He knew that the gangs were not as glorious as they seemed, even the Chinese gangs. They were originally formed due to reasons such as the Chinese Exclusion Act, police inaction, and systemic discrimination, for self-protection.
But as they grew and developed, rich gangs, almost nine out of ten, would transform from heroes who fought dragons into a new kind of evil dragon. In this regard, Chinese gangs are no different from Vietnamese gangs, Korean gangs, etc. Carter wouldn't be so naive as to think they were good guys, just curious. It's only 1980 now, still in a recession, and it's only been about ten years since the enactment of laws prohibiting discriminatory behavior.
In today's American society, systemic discrimination still pervades every corner. It can be said that external survival crises have not been resolved, nor have the rights and interests sought through struggle been obtained, so how could they have turned into evil dragons?
"That's all ancient history. Originally, this was the territory of the Gambino family, and before that, it was the Koreans. At that time, we had to pay protection money every month to them, and from time to time, we would be treated to free meals by their people."
Sighing, the fat boss spoke with a sense of fear, just like two days ago, when he was furious with Carter and wanted to hit this unscrupulous foreigner with a bench, but had to swallow his anger. Just driving away the matter.
The bitterness had to be swallowed silently.
"At that time, it was 1968, and I had just arrived in New York. I sold my savings to open this small restaurant, don't laugh at me. When I first arrived in New York, I thought it was heaven here. Skyscrapers, bustling streets, people dressed beautifully and stylishly, but with my skills, the foreigners couldn't eat it, and I relied on my fellow countrymen for business."
"At that time, we Chinese were still very good, very united. Each household, if someone had an ailment or difficulty, we would definitely help each other out. Although life was barely enough to make ends meet, I still felt that there was hope for the future. Because my motherland was just"
"I hadn't been living the good life for more than two years when the Koreans were beaten out by the Gambino family. Then our hard times began, not to mention the increase in protection fees, those white devils, not only did they eat for free, but they also drank alcohol endlessly. If they weren't treated well, they would come up and punch and kick."
"Even walking on the street, our Chinese women were harassed and violated by them. As long as they dared to resist, they would be beaten to death, and from time to time, you could hear which kid had his hands and feet broken, or which girl had been violated and so on. At that time, when I went out to buy groceries, it was me, your Auntie Fat, and Shu Zhen, and I dared not let them show themselves."
Listening to the fat boss recounting the past of Chinatown, Carter couldn't help but feel a sense of desolation. Taking out a cigarette from his pocket and giving one to the other party, he patted his shoulder as a comfort.
"It was also at that time that ABC was established. In fact, we couldn't take it anymore, being bullied from time to time, being poisoned. If it weren't for my family, just me, a man, if something happened to me, they wouldn't be able to make it. At that time, I also joined them."
"It took more than three years, and we Chinese and the Gambino people fought several times. I heard they killed dozens of their leaders, and they were forced not to set foot in Chinatown again, only then did things calm down. At that time in Chinatown, if you said you were from ABC, everyone would give you a thumbs up."
"At that time, we regarded them as heroes, and we would voluntarily pay our monthly dues, just more, never less! Occasionally, when we saw them come to eat, we would voluntarily waive their bill, hoping they would protect us ordinary folks, let us live well, and earn a hard-earned living, raise a family."
"But in the end, it was the same as before. In less than two years of good times, these people turned bad. They opened casinos, nightclubs, and bars, and got involved in drug trafficking and smuggling. In the past few years, people who came from abroad hadn't even set foot on the shore yet, they had to be skimmed off a layer of skin by them, until they got to shore."
"What job introduction fee, what protection fee, what joining fee, it was one layer after another of skimming and bloodsucking! You say people came over illegally, did some black work, their income was already low, and they still had to take a layer from it, plus the money spent on smuggling, and the so-called introduction fee."
"Later on, the people who came over were practically no different from ancient slaves. Doing the most tiring and dangerous work, in the end, it was hard to even have a decent meal."